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The heart of Ubud

The journey north to Ubud from Seminyak was nothing short of spectacular.

The streets lined themselves in groups of various crafts and skills: giant budda statues, stone carvings, cane chairs, wooden doors. I got whiplash trying to keep up with them all.

Scotty was on a mission to ubud and there was no stopping him. We were leaving the coast behind in search of tranquility and fresh air.

Coconut trees towered overhead and giant Bayans hung heavy with the latest ceremonial ornaments. This is what we came for. A bit of culture luv.

Of course we had the usual craziness of bali going on. Traffic on the narrowest of streets. Roosters being slaughtered. Random fires. People on motorbikes. Shops on motorbikes. Children on motorbikes. A group cremation involving 1000 attending villagers blocking the streets for days. You get the picture.

We arrived at our villa, thanks to the GPS, to greet the American owners who were going to stay at one of their other properties while we stayed at theirs. He is a Hollywood set designer who now designs, builds and exports furniture around the world and his second wife has become a Zumba teacher/hairdresser/life coach since moving to bali.

The villa was great but very much their home. An empty nesters paradise but you know what we can kinda play that game so we explored every cliff drop, over sized stairwell and pool with a sense of adventure. Of course the kids were excited. Within moments cocolily had found a black spider the size of an outstretched hand including fingers! Not poisonous apparently.

We have now been here a week and we are finding our groove. There a some lovely spots on the property and as long as we can keep cocolily in sight we can relax! (Sic) A large bale sits perched amongst the trees as the sun sets- where I am writing this from now actually. Our bedroom is surrounding by tree tops though 20 foot high glass windows so we are literally waking amongst the trees at daybreak. If the rosters don’t wake us first.

We signed up to cooking school and blessed a crowd with our presence. Balinese children use sharp knives from a very young age so I was constantly removing knives from my kids hands as the chefs were encouraging them to chop, chop, chop! Zammie actually got the swing of it, dicing up garlic for the sauce and pounding the chicken in a giant pestle and mortar.

The writers festival starts this week and thankfully we managed to get tickets, which Scotty and I are going to dovetail at. Some amazing speakers and we are really looking forward to hanging out with adults!

Tonight we are off to some fabulous dance show at the palace so a late one for the kiddies. Cross your fingers for us.

We are hooked up on Skype, under Scott Butler, Sydney, so if you’re keen find us, we’d love to chat. You can get a sneak peak of our little life in ubud on your screen.

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3 thoughts on “The heart of Ubud”

Hi Louise & Scott, Kinda random to start a message on your blog by reminding you who I am but we met a few years ago in Santa Fe at Simon and Crystal’s wedding. A resulting friendship on Facebook saw me come across your mention of Bali and led me here. I’m inspired by your adventure and truly in awe of what you’re doing and really I just wanted to say… GOOD FOR YOU!

Indonesia is amazing with Ubud being a stand-out favourite and I loved your description of the sights you saw on the way there. Takes me back… But I have to concur, the worst thing about Indonesia and S.E. Asia as a whole is the lack of wine (good, bad or otherwise). It’s a trade off but I’m confident you’ll find other creative ways to give meaning to ‘drinking life in’ 😉
The very best to you all and warmest regards, Lxx

Leslie, lovely to hear from you. No need to remind. A connection was made at that wedding my dear. Too long ago. Thanks for the kind words. Is not easy but seems worth it. I love, love, love Ubud. This place could swallow me up. Hope life is treating you well. Thinking you were in Canada?

Yes, you are right. Living in Vancouver now but probably wasn’t when we met. I traveled to Ubud a few months after Santa Fe and felt the same pull you do. Ahh, it’s such a special place, I can understand how one could easily end up there indefinitely. I think I might have even dined at that same restaurant in the middle of the rice fields that’s in your photo! Delicious local food and creative drinks…? I seem to recall we watched a snake slither through the garden below us. It wasn’t small either

If you get the chance to venture away from Bali, the Gili islands off Lombok are true paradise. Gili T is the most populated and has more going on, Meno is smaller and more chill, we didn’t make it to Air. The journey there is an adventure in itself but the payoff is highly worth it. I look forward to following your adventures… Wherever your travels take you… xx